Saturday Thoughts

Close matchups abound

Most of this week's matchups are close heading into the final days, though Mongoose appears to be in good shape, due to a surprising 3 techs from odensque, and the Hosen seem to be assured of a victory over the non-lineup-setting Speakers.

The biggest surprise to me is that thenopp is presently ahead of Les Digits, despite Chalmers' 9 steal game and monster lines from Amare. The culprits are: 1) Shaq sitting out, 2) Missing 2 games from Billups due to the trade, and 3) some questionable lineup choices (Stevenson and Conley over an admittedly struggling Deng?). Now injuries have struck (J-Smoove and Tim-Thom), which could also contribute to a disappointing week. The Digits are only down 8-7, but that's while winning all four negs and a pct. They'll need a surge in DREB, FTM, or AST to compete, and thenopp has something of a weekend games advantage.

The other interesting matchup is between Tsaogrip and Nor'Easter. Right now, it stands at 8-6 Nor'Easter. Nor'Easter's PGs have been on a bit of a roller coaster: the Walloon blew up for 55pts, but is now out for two weeks, and Devin Harris poured in 38 last night, but will miss today's game. They cling to a 4 AST advantage, so their absence could be decisive - Nash and Paul are both in action tonight, so watch closely. Redd's absence for tsaogrip has been roughly cancelled out by Maggette's injury on the other side. Almost all the categories are still competitve, so it should be an exciting weekend (provided that Tim sets his lineup).